The Australian War Memorial Council – the body responsible for the conduct and control of the affairs of the national shrine, including the nature of its displays and exhibits – needs an overhaul, according to Defending Country, a group that wants the AWM to recognise and commemorate the Frontier Wars between European settlers and Indigenous Australians.
In their opinion, the current membership is “a stumbling block in the way of proper recognition and commemoration of the Frontier Wars”.
“Some Australians believe the Memorial is our most sacred institution, yet its governing Council does not look like modern Australia,” spokesperson Dr David Stephens, secretary of the Honest History coalition, said.
Instead, Dr Stephens has argued, the Council “looks like a cosy club of well-connected conservatives and ex-military types”.
The Defending Country group – which also comprises journalist Noel Turnbull, historians Professor Peter Stanley and Dr Carolyn Holbrook, and lawyer Pamela Burton – wrote to the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, the Hon. Matt Keogh MP, urging him to refresh the membership of the Council. Mr Keogh recommends to the Governor-General who should be appointed or re-appointed to the Council.
Defending Country believes that five members of the Council whose terms expire between February and April should not be re-appointed: Rhondda Vanzella OAM (NSW) and Glenn Keys AO (ACT) (3 February); Josephine Stone AM (NT, 1 March); Retired Major General Aziz (Greg) Melick AO RFD FANZCN SC (Tasmania, 18 April); and Professor Susan Neuhaus AM CSC (SA, 26 April).
“The current Council is too old, has been in place too long, and includes too many Coalition old mates and too many old military buffs,” Dr Stephens said.
The average age of the Council is 60, and has no Indigenous members.
Three of the five have strong connections to the Coalition, Defending Country argued. Mrs Vanzella was both electorate office manager for Dr Brendan Nelson (a minister under John Howard and a former leader of the Liberal Party, as well as the Memorial’s former Director), and senior vice-president of the Liberal Party NSW. Mrs Stone is married to the former Coalition Chief Minister of the Northern Territory and National President of the Liberal Party. Mr Keys owns Aspen Medical, which donates equally to the Coalition and to Labor.
Mrs Stone and General Melick have been Council members for nine years already, since 2015, and Professor Neuhaus for six years. Reappointing them, Defending Country observes, would bring their total service to 12, 12, and nine years respectively.
Like the other members of the Council, all five have strong military links. Major General Melick is National President of the RSL, and was the most senior Army Reserve officer in the country. Mrs Vanzella was an officer of war widows’ associations; Mr Keys was a senior military engineer and worked for an arms company; Mrs Stone’s husband and son were members of the Naval reserve; and Professor Neuhaus was an army medico, retiring with the rank of Colonel.
“These backgrounds are unrepresentative of the mass of Australians who have served in uniform,” Defending Country advised Mr Keogh.
In short, they argue, “the current Council looks more like the committee of an ex-service club – one with primarily male members [sic] – than the governing body of a national cultural institution”.
Defending Country recommends instead that Mr Keogh appoint younger members; historians and experts in art, archives, and museology (the Council does not have any, and has had no historians since Geoffrey Blainey and Tom Frame in 2007); First Nations people (which “would reinforce the Memorial’s commitment to proper recognition of the Frontier Wars”); and non-RSL members (only 25 per cent of veterans and ADF members have joined the RSL).
A spokesperson for Mr Keogh said: “Members of the Council are appointed with special regard for their knowledge and experience with respect to matters relevant to the breadth of functions of the Memorial.
“Future appointments to the Council will be made with consideration given to an individual’s knowledge and experiences and the balance of these across the Council as a whole.”
The Australian War Memorial could not comment.
